Horace Cooper, retired employee with the U.S. Department of Defense, protests the government shutdown outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So now the government is embroiled in yet another bitter showdown over the shutdown with a fury of finger-pointing. But funding Obamacare or the government in general are really not the issues. These are merely symptoms of a larger issue - the size of the federal government itself.

In saying the government is too big, I mean it's trying to do too much. Not unlike yourself, if you try to do more than you're able or more than you should or more than you can afford, you'll have problems. The difference is that if you fail at something, only you or your family will suffer, but if the government fails at something, many or all of its citizens will suffer. You are held accountable by your consequences, but those governing don't feel the same burden. They feel they can simply raise taxes, raise the debt ceiling, play shell games or blame others.

To provide some measure of government accountability, a certain amount of checks, balances, transparency and debate is needed. This necessitates some bureaucracy to help stave off rash, short-sighted or tyrannical laws from wreaking havoc on society. Try to funnel too much through that system or make it do what it shouldn't and you'll have trouble. No wonder many are seemingly frustrated that government is inefficient or takes too long to get things done.

Further complicating this is that a sprawling government adds cost and layers of bureaucracy resulting in even more inefficiency. Last year, almost half of the more than 2 million federal employees consisted of executives, managers, supervisors and administrative support. These folks make up the more expensive half, costing taxpayers nearly $83 billion annually.

If you want to see more political dysfunction, higher taxes, a destabilizing and immoral national debt, more government programs we can't afford, more government corruption and less freedom, then keep voting for people who will expand the government with political solutions. Keep the federal government small, simple and focused; then many of these symptomatic problems will be minimized naturally.

Josh Leonard

Noblesville

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Government is trying to do too much

So now the government is embroiled in yet another bitter showdown over the shutdown with a fury of finger-pointing. But funding Obamacare or the government in general are really not the issues.